Sports reporter at The Canberra Times

Rose Of Falvelon has had seven wins from her 14 starts Photo: Graham Tidy

Unlike her half-sister Pray To God, Rose Of Falvelon has never been a picnic horse.

In fact, the daughter of Falvelon has had such an impressive start to her career, Canberra trainer Nick Olive is hoping she is not far off getting some black-type next to her name.

It is also what fellow Canberran Matthew Dale is hoping for Jacinta, who will go head to head against Rose Of Falvelon in the benchmark 84 handicap (1150 metres) at Kensington on Saturday.

Olive could not be happier with how his Rose is blooming, after she scored an emphatic 2½-length win at Canberra first-up.

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His only concern was how she would handle the distance as he thinks 1000 to 1100 metres suits her better.

But Olive was still confident she would run a good race and she has won all three of her second-up runs.

Rose Of Falvelon has had seven wins from her 14 starts, along with two placings, which included the Camarena Handicap (1000m) on Black Opal Stakes Day this year.

Olive is hoping she can continue that progression.

"That is in the back of my mind,'' he said. ''I'd love to place her in a race where she can get a bit of black-type for sure, but we'll just take each step as it comes and hopefully that opportunity presents in the near future.

"In the right race she's not far off that level at all.

"The problem is her best distance is 1000 to 1100 metres and there's not that many mares races over those distances, which probably makes it a bit more tricky for her."

Rose Of Falvelon's half-sister is Pray To God, which Redbank North owner Jamie Middleton brought to Olive with the single goal of getting a win.

Pray To God went on to win six from 17 starts, which was why Middleton went on to buy Rose on the Gold Coast.

"I remember he brought the horse [Pray To God] to me as an unraced horse and said, ''If you can win a race at the picnics with this just for a broodmare type thing, that'd be great, just so it's got a win under her name,' " Olive said.

"She went on to win seven or so races – same sort of record [as Rose Of Falvelon] – from 15 to 20 starts and went very well.

"[But Rose Of Falvelon] has never been a picnic horse; we had a bigger picture for her from day one."

Olive thought Saturday's eventwas an open race with plenty of chances, including Dale's Jacinta.

Dale also wants to get some black-type next to his mare's name and Olive felt she would put in a good showing in Sydney on Saturday.

"Obviously she progressed well through the classes last campaign and if it's come back and improved a bit this campaign, it's obviously going to perform well this preparation," he said.

"I know Matty's got a good opinion of the horse, so I think it will go well."